The Political and Social Identities of the Palestinian Christian Community in Jordan

Abstract

This article focuses on the Palestinian Christian community in contemporary Jordan, tracing the evolution of the community's social, religious, and political identities since 1948 to the present day. Incorporating material from interviews conducted within the past two years, the article assesses the impact of local and global developments on the microidentities within the Palestinian-Jordanian community and the significance of religion in the context of sustaining the Pales tinian heritage for future generations residing in the diaspora. V-^hristian communities have long flourished in the area that is now the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, notably in and around the provincial towns of Karak, Madaba, and Salt as well as 'Amman. Jordan's history as a transit country has provided a rich and varied tapestry of cultures and faiths, the most notable being the majority mixed-faith Palestinian community that is estimated to comprise 60% of the Kingdom's population. The peaceful melange of faiths is illustriously exhibited in the capital by the numerous spires that stretch alongside minarets towards the skies of 'Amman. A closer look at the Palestinian and Jordanian communities of Jordan reveals a plethora of origins and influ ences, each rich in culture, heritage, and identity. Yet at the same time, the two groups differ in terms of their ethnic origins, as the Transjordanians descend from the nomadic tribes of Syria, the Hejaz, and the Nejd, in contrast to the Palestinians, who comprise a history shaped by the Canaanites, Hebrews, Syrians, Romans, Byzantines, and Greeks.1 In addition to the Jordanian and Palestinian-Jordanian communities, Jordan is home to a plethora of non-Arab minorities, with the Circassians and Chechens being the most numerous of these. The Christians of Jordan and Palestine deserve more than a passing nod, as they transcend the boundaries of ethnic, religious, and national identity within Jordanian soci ety. Accordingly, through the course of this article aspects of the contemporary Palestin ian Christian identity shall be explored in the context of the Palestinian community in Jordan, commencing with an overview of Christianity in the region and the post-1948 migration of the Palestinian Christian community to the Kingdom. While Jordan has long sustained a Christian community, the arrival of the Palestinians facilitated the rise of a new identity that continues to compliment the existing Jordanian Christian identity ? that of the Palestinian and Palestinian-Jordanian Christian identity. Multifarious and